Search the BDC (NHLBI BioData Catalyst) documentation database.

Returns the top-k matching chunks with content, metadata (source, doc_type, datetime when available), and a score.

query is the search text. In embedding mode phrase it as a question or topic (e.g. "how do I bring my own data"); in keyword mode give the literal terms to match.

k is the number of chunks to return (default 5). Raise it (10-20) for broad or multi-part questions; each chunk is a small section of a document.

mode toggles the search engine:

• "embedding" (default): semantic similarity — best for questions, topics, and paraphrased wording. score is a distance (lower = more similar).

• "keyword": fuzzy literal word matching — ignores case and punctuation ("picsure" finds "PIC-SURE") and tolerates small typos — best for exact names, acronyms, tool names, or error messages the embedding may blur. Chunks matching more of the query terms rank first; score is the total number of occurrences (higher = better).

doc_type is a CSV string of types to search (e.g. "page,faq" or "video"). Available types:

• docs: BDC GitBook platform documentation — user guides, how-tos, and technical reference (bdcatalyst.gitbook.io)

• page: key pages of the BDC website — about/overview, joining BDC, analyzing & sharing data, usage costs and terms

• faq: Freshdesk help-desk FAQ articles (support questions & answers)

• video: transcripts of BDC YouTube tutorials/webinars, with timestamped links into the video

• fellow: BDC Fellows profiles — fellowship recipients and their research projects

• update: dated news posts ("latest updates") from the BDC website

• event: dated BDC events — webinars, workshops, deadlines When doc_type is omitted, only docs, page, faq, and video are searched — name fellow, update, or event explicitly to search them.

date_from / date_to ("YYYY-MM-DD", inclusive) filter by date. Only event and update docs carry a date, so a date filter implicitly narrows to those types. Results are ranked by relevance, NOT date — for "recent"/"latest" questions, always set date_from to bound the range, then compare the dates returned.